Use of “whatever” vs “whatsoever”

Question

The city posts signs near my house that read:

Dump no waste whatever

The meaning is clear in context: don't dump any waste here. But the sign sounds incorrect. To me, it seems "whatever" should be "whatsoever." Is the sign correct? Is it using an archaic form of "whatever"?

Answer 1

Both whatever and whatsoever may be used to mean at all for emphasis.

Dump no waste at all.

Dump no waste whatever.

Dump no waste whatsoever.

Answer 2

They mean the same - they both add emphasis. Whatsoever sounds more emphatic than whatever, but do you really need the extra emphasis? Whatever is in fact what educated writers in past centuries, like Churchill, mostly used. Whatsoever is mostly colloquial or American.

Answer 3

Though I am a novice in this forum, I would like to take a shot at this. Dude, I have to say this is a great question, as this really touches the psychology of the English language in the context of grammatical usage vs colloquial usage.

To me, whatever can be thought of as saying what ever in 2 cases.
1. Message without an emotion (literal meaning): what ever as in “whatever you do, do it right” or “Do whatever it takes”.
2. Message with an emotion: In movies, whatever is commonly used in completion of a sentence which carries a casual emotion to it. Like “I don't know, whatever”. Here the tagline of the script must be that the actor displays a feeling of neglect.

Whereas whatsoever is more formal. It is not archaic yet as far as I know. It carries the same meaning as whatever. To me, whatsoever cannot carry an emotion. It is more correct when used formally.

So, to answer your question, if the city's signpost said “dump no waste whatever”, then I would say it is wrong. It must have been just “dump no waste”.

Answer 4

The sign should say "whatsoever" because that word literally translates to "whatever it may be" or "whatever the case" or "whatever kind", hence, the use of whatever leaves a taste of incompleteness (in my mind at least). In fact, I think it is entirely wrong to end a sentence with "whatever" — for instance: She has succeeded in whatever (she's attempted) — the words in the brackets feel necessary to me because "whatever" implies the use of another verb or object to come, whereas "whatsoever" already conveys one that is general and abstract.